Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith urged everyone involved in politics and the media to stop providing mere “lip service” to civility and actually practice it.
An assailant rushed a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton Saturday night during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, shooting a Secret Service officer.
“For the purposes of what transpired this weekend, I felt the need to address it because I was there. I was in the room,” Smith said, “and it was a crazy, crazy experience to say the least.
“In the end, what it comes down to is this: We’re living in some very, very troubling times, and this is not a time to point fingers and blame anybody.”
While Smith noted that one could choose to criticize the Trump administration’s rhetoric, “all of that is, to me, at this particular moment in time, irrelevant, because I’m not going to sit up there and blame them for the actions of some really sick individuals that’s willing to do harm, and dare I say, attempt to kill people because they don’t like the state of our politics or anything like that.
“Can it be better? You’re damn right,” he continued. “Does it need to get better? You’re damn right. But in the same breath, you understand you’re an adult. You’re responsible for your own actions.”
“There’s a lot that we don’t like that’s going on in our country,” Smith added. “That doesn’t mean we’re going out trying to kill people. OK? So, I’m not going to sit up there and use this as an opportunity to point a negative finger toward politicians or media members or anything like that.
“What I will say is this,” he continued. “I’m sick and tired of us giving lip service to the narrative of dialing down the rhetoric. We need — enough of that. Stop talking about it and do it. Stop talking about it and do it. You know, let’s debate policy. Let’s talk about what’s actually happening in our country from a policy perspective, whether we agree or disagree and why.”
Smith juxtaposed that with people merely “engaging in name-calling, speaking about people in incendiary and derogatory fashion and fomenting and feeding into the hostility and the ire that some sick individuals out there want to exercise and engage in.”
The sports commentator concluded that people need to appreciate that we live in the United States of America, where people have the sacred freedom to “course-correct,” to change their government by legitimate means if they are frustrated with how it enacts its duties.
The shooting suspect, Cole Allen, was apprehended and has been charged with multiple felonies. The gunfire led to President Donald Trump and Cabinet officials at the dinner being evacuated and the event being rescheduled.
Federal law enforcement officials confirmed to Fox News Digital that, after Allen’s arrest, he said he intended to target Trump administration officials and had prepared a manifesto detailing his intent, while also sharing anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on social media.
The incident was the latest of similar attacks on Trump and his allies and has renewed the ongoing conversation about rhetoric and political violence.
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Smith also said Trump, speaking shortly after the assassination attempt, had a point when he argued there was a legitimate need for a White House ballroom as a secured event venue for such events.
“If it’s the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, why the hell is it not at the White House?” Smith asked.
Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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